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Sometimes I run across a story that is just too amazing to pass up. This one had me just shaking my head in disbelief. No, it has nothing to do with BI, data warehousing or even business unless an analogy can be drawn. Be warned though -- If you have a weak stomach, stop reading now.

OK -- here it is. I am calmly reading the Denver Post newspaper when this story pops out (literally) at me. Apparently a 13 foot python exploded when it tried to swallow a LIVE 6 foot alligator -- whole -- in the Florida Everglades recently!

AP / Everglades National Park
The carcass of a six-foot American alligator is protruding from the mid-section of a 13-foot Burmese python Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Everglades National Park, Fla., after the snake apparently swallowed the alligator resulting in the deaths of both animals.

Talk about your eating disorders!

Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor put it succinctly "It means nothing in the Everglades is safe from pythons, a top-down predator."

A top-down predator? Do they really talk like that?

One can't help but wonder if this is an ominous analogy for a large software company who recently gobbled up another large software company. Just thinking out loud...

18 Comments

Holy cow! and I thought Nathan's 4th of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island was impressive - 49 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes (the record is 53 1/2 dogs and buns). Would that be business information for Nathan's?
g.

The explosion might have been the result of the snake overstretching its skin beyond its elastic limit while trying to swallow the huge alligator. However, I would like to imagine that it might have been also due to the inflation of explosive and other gases in its digestive system. These gases, which may substantially include methane were the end products of fermentation (anaaerobic digestion) of the unassimilated food in the stomach of the snake from the previous 'big meal'. When methane was exposed to the air(therefore oxygen)that got in during the struggle, explosion ensued. place.

Yes, it does look like there was a previous meal in that thing, you can see the swelling right below the tail of te gator. I think is was the force of the gator's struggle that along with the othr elements that caused the explosion. They all should die, ops, sorry!

Hi Monica,
I would like to imagine that the food from the 'previous big meal' might have been fermenting for some time inside the stomach of the creature, resulting in anaerobic gases being formed. The pressure built-up and the ignition of the gases by oxygen intrusion as a result of the struggle, might have ultimately caused the explosion. The explosion tore both creatures to several fragments as you might have seen in the photo.